Rockets not fazed by bright lights of LeBron’s home debut

SAN DIEGO, CA - SEPTEMBER 30: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers warms up before a preseason game against the Denver Nuggets at Valley View Casino Center on September 30, 2018 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Photo: Harry How, Staff / Getty Images

LOS ANGELES — As much as the Rockets know what will be waiting for them when the lights come on at Staples Center and they take their place on the most visible of NBA stages Saturday night, they cannot consider their part in the spectacle as important. They said they have more pressing needs to address.

Still, if they cannot deny the circus while under the big top, they thought they might endeavor to use it.

LeBron James’ first home game since joining the Lakers, and the way Los Angeles loves nothing more than to celebrate the way the Lakers and celebrity converge, will make Saturday’s nationally televised show certain to be a scene like few others.

The famous faces will be there. ESPN will hype it with all its machinery. The Lakers issued more than 300 media credentials for the game, slightly exceeding even the numbers for the Rockets and Warriors games in the Western Conference finals. And that was for a playoff series that went seven games between the reigning champions and the team considered most likely to beat them and featuring some of the most recognizable and marketable players in sports.

“It’s something we should all be looking forward to as competitors and as fans of the sort,” Rockets forward Carmelo Anthony said. “I think it’s good, though, not just for this individual game, but for the league as a whole. Any time L.A. can have a good situation, a good team, something good going here, the whole league is different. The energy is different in the whole league. We look forward to that.

“I’ve been around a long time. When you can have the New Yorks and the Los Angeleses and the Chicagos and the Bostons in the NBA be good, have good situations, it makes the whole league fun.”

James’ decision to bring his talents to Hollywood brought the spotlight. The Rockets were an easy choice for an opponent, but have been in enough high-profile situations and raucous opposing areas to consider it part of life for them, along with experiences they hope to revisit in May and June.

“Obviously, there’s a lot of hype to it, but I think our guys are aware of it,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “It should pump them up, too. It should be an interesting and fun environment. I think we’re better equipped also because we have a lot of veterans. A younger team might go, ‘Oh, wow.’ Our guys have seen it and done it. They’ve been there.”

Most of the Lakers have not. Though James, JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo have championship rings and ample experience with the carnival atmosphere, much of the roster played for the rebuilding, post Kobe Bryant version of Lakers.

McGee said he could not guess how Saturday’s scene will compare to what he saw with the Warriors, but Lakers coach Luke Walton said it is something he has addressed.

“'We’ve talked about it, not to let it be a distraction,” Walton told the media in Portland on Friday. “We’re not going to let it influence what we’re trying to do on this team. In fact, we’re trying to use it as something to grow a bond in our group. Our theme is to truly believe in the idea that it’s just us, just us that are in here working, just us that are getting better.”

The Rockets have ample reason to take it the same way. After a dud of a season opener when the Rockets failed to match the Pelicans’ energy it might be beneficial to feel threatened. They might not need the electricity sure to fill the arena to give them the jolt they lacked Wednesday, but rather than an obstacle to be overcome, the Rockets viewed it as useful.

“I would hope (if) we were picking up five-on-five on the playground we’d have that sense of urgency,” D’Antoni said. “I don’t think it will change anything. It should be fun to be a part of it.”

The Rockets’ success last season along with the high profile that comes with putting James Harden, Chris Paul and Anthony on the floor will likely draw opponents’ best each night. In that regard, they can expect to be the Warriors without the rings. But after cruising to easy wins through the preseason, they might need to be pushed, as they likely will be against the Clippers, who treated meetings with the Rockets last season as their Super Bowl, and the Jazz, who faced the Rockets in last season’s playoffs.

“That’s fine,” Harden said. “We got (the Pelicans’) best shot last game and got whupped. We watched some film and some things got to change. But we’re good.

“For us I think it’s a big game every night, especially early on, trying to get a rhythm, trying to find kind of our swag. It’s going to be a big game for us Saturday, Sunday and after that.”

With that in mind, the Rockets won’t look at their goal as much as to crash the party, but to have one of their own.

“We’re focused on our situation,” Anthony said. “We can’t really worry about what they have going on over there. We’re still trying to figure out our own stuff. We focus on the Houston Rockets and that’s it.”

Jonathan Feigen has been the Rockets beat writer since 1998 and a basketball nut since before Willis Reed limped out for Game 7. He became a sports writer because the reporter that was supposed to cover the University of Delaware basketball team decided to instead play one more season of college lacrosse and has never looked back.

Feigen, who has won APSE, APME and United States Basketball Writers Association awards from El Campo to Houston, came to Texas in 1981 to cover the Rice Birds, was Sports Editor in Garland before moving to Dallas to cover everything from the final hurrah of the Southwest Conference to SMU after the death penalty.

After joining the Houston Chronicle in 1990, Feigen has covered the demise of the SWC, the rise of the Big 12 and the Rockets at their championship best.